Research – Searching for Names in War Diaries of the 1st Battalion
This article describes how to research the details of the service of a soldier with the 48th Highlanders who served in during World War 2 with the 1st Battalion. This instruction process is in addition to searches of records not in the Museum System or that are available from outside sources such as Library and Archives Canada.
Overview
The war diaries and their accompanying attachments (Part 1 and Part 2 orders, eyc.) have been scanned into a single searchable PDF file one for each month. Each of these PDF files has been attached to a separate item (artifact) record in the database. When you search items (artifacts) using a soldier’s last name, the system will return a listing of all the items where the soldier’s last name appears in the attached PDF file. The system will NOT show you where the name appears in the PDF file.
Therefore, once you have located all the PDF files that contain the soldier’s name, you will have to do a separate search of each PDF file to locate all occurances of the name in each PDF file.
Locating all the PDF files
You must be logged in to follow the procedure below. You can search from either the “Landing page” (the “front” end of the web site) or from the Dashboard (the back end of the web site,)
From the front end of the web site
Click / tap as follows: Explore > Staff Only > Item Search (includes “Private” items)
In Classifications enter War Diaries and in the Search field enter the name of the Highlander, eg “Gunn” then Submit. The system will return a “tile” for each artifact classified as “War Diary” where the attached PDF file contains one or more occurances of the searched for name.
Select one “tile” by clicking MORE then select DISPLAY PDF. The complete War Diary and its appendices for the month selected will appear. Note the month and year of the selected War Diary entry.
From the dashboard
On the All items screen, in “Any Classifications” search for War Diaries and select Research > War Diaries. In Search items enter the name of the Highlander, eg “Gunn” then Filter.
The system will return an table showing each artifact classified as “War Diary” where the attached PDF file contains one or more occurances of the searched for name.
Click on the Title of the first item in the list. The system will display the Edit item scteen for that item. Scroll down to the Document attachment section and then click / tap on the PDF filename. The complete War Diary and its appendices for the month selected will appear. Note the month and year of the selected War Diary entry.
Searching a PDF file
Follow these instructions for each PDF file on which the Highlander’s name appears. The exact procedure for searching a PDF file varies somewhat depending on the browser you are using on your computer / tablet. In fact, on most tablets, you may not be able to search the PDF file that is opened without first downloading it and then opening the file in an application such as Adobe PDF Reader.
Microsoft Edge
In the in the toolbar at the top immediately above the document click on the magnifying glass located on the right side. In the Search box that appears to the left of the magnifying glass type in the Highlander’s name (e.g. “Gunn”) and then Enter. The Search box will now show the number of pages on which the Highlander’s name appears.
Use the up and down arrows within the Search Box to go to each page on which the name appears. The Highlander’s name will be highlighted in a colour on that page. Note that the name might appear several times on a page so be sure to scroll down the full page. Record on your notepaper the heading under which the Highlander’s names appears. E.g. Promotion, Strength Increase, Wounded etc.
(Note: This process can be done for any pdf file, not just War Diaries)